Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,67

it for personal gain, so there’s that.”

I’ve never thought of this before, that anyone close to him would know about his involvement in this case, when he gently escorts me by the shoulder into a conference room.

“Listen, Mal.” His eyes are heated, but not with anger. They are heated for me, and it stirs something within me, too. My stomach clenches, but in the best of ways. “I’ve been with other women. Not a ton, but I was looking for someone I could call mine for life.” He stops, pulling out a seat, sitting down. I follow suit. “I love you. I want you. I promise, if there’s a snake in the midst, I’ll take care of them, but Leela Cesarea isn’t one of them. She’ll be fair.”

I cross my arms, and he’s worn me down. With a grin on my face, I counter, “So how many other women do I need to worry about?”

He shakes his head at me. “Hell, you’re trouble.” It’s not a question, just a statement.

“Yep, and you’ll find out soon just how much trouble I’ll really be one day.”

He curses under his breath, a slight smirk covering his face. Before I can respond, Stewart pops his head in. “The owner of the construction company is here. You ready?” He directs his question to Wells. I show him the bag of roast beef sandwiches from my favorite drive-through. “Oh, hell, you’re a godsend, Mal.” He whips the bag from my reach. “Wells, if you don’t keep her around, I will.”

“The fuck you will.” Wells winks at me. “And, Higgie, she’s not going anywhere.”

Chapter 23

Wells

“Thanks for coming down and making time for us,” I begin, walking into a separate conference room, from where Malia and I had been. It’s one we use for interviews with witnesses and not persons of interest.

“I certainly didn’t have a choice in the matter,” the older man belts out, pushing his seat back to sit down. Johnson Wallard, sixty-six, has a full head of black hair, not something a man his age has naturally. His large beer belly makes it impossible to scoot all the way in.

“Well, I appreciate it all the same.” I begin by being cordial. He could be a jackass, and we’d get nothing. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

He doesn’t respond, and Stewart lets out a large exhale of air—yeah, the kid is already frustrated. This will be fun. “Okay, so let’s get started.” I slide over the two pictures of the houses where the copycat murders have taken place. “Do you recognize these two houses?”

“Um, yeah, they’re the Evergreen plans of some of my custom build houses,” he begins, leaving it at that.

“All right, then. Can you explain what you mean by the Evergreen plan of your custom build houses?”

He sighs, loud, and his breath carries and almost knocks me over. “I have several types of businesses. I create vinyl villages and custom homes from the plans up. It’s how I started, but I needed something between these two plans for those unable to build from the ground up.” He brings the plans closer. “This here, as you know, is the Evergreen. It’s the middle range in my custom floor plans. If someone has a plot of land they want to build on, they pick between ten plans, and then from there, we reconfigure it to their needs. The normal Evergreen is 3500 square feet with four large bedrooms. Let’s say there’s a family who’s bigger, we can make the four bedrooms into five by taking a little off every room, so the bedrooms are smaller, but all their young ’uns have separate rooms. Also, some like a formal dining room while others want it as an office. Some may want a back porch or a sunroom. These are options we give, plus we given them more custom choices, where we scratch an idea and come up with a new plan. This costs more, but it’s still cheaper than an out-and-out custom home because we have the supplies on hand.”

This man, who I had thought would be a pain in my ass, is a bit more cooperative, but I see the pride in his work ethic and what he’s built, which I can use to get more information from him.

“These houses are at least ten years old, but I can go back into my records once I get back to the office.”

“Do you remember these builds at all?” Higgie asks.

“Let me think.”